I got off the veranda yesterday and went into town to catch up with a few people.

After gossiping about mutual associates and about organisations we had each worked with we moved onto my job search.

People were eagerly giving me their advice on what I should do which was helpful and fun – but then one of them asked me what I am actually looking for. This led to more questions and discussions.

The hardest question was – do you want to be a manager and eventual ruler of an empire, or an adventurer who wanders between projects and gets good money without having to stick around for the boring bits (if you are not yet up with the web 3.41 jargon, that translates as – be a senior manager or a project manager).

Its a bit like walking in a forest – if you are happy just exploring then you should keep wandering off to look at anything that looks interesting. But if you have a destination to get to before the end of the day then you should keep following the paths that take you there.

I have always been the kind of hiker that wanders off to look at everything interesting, and then pitching my tent when the sun starts to set. And my friends agreed this was a good way to be as long as I was happy to end up where-ever the sun was setting.

But then they told me that it was up to me – I can set goals and go after them or I can wander onto each project as it comes along. It was actually a really helpful discussion.

I decided I would rather have some long-term goals around a senior leadership role that makes a difference in the world, but that it might be harder to do that.

Its good to know people who are wise and helpful. But the problem is you still have to do your own thinking and be accountable for your own outcomes.

So I have decided that it might be better to have friends with hordes of money they can give you, to create cool opportunities and heaps of wealth without you having to think or work.

The problem is I always seem to attract friends who are rich in knowledge and friendship rather than incredibly wealthy and dumb enough to give all their money away.

I guess the problem with people is that if they are rich and dumb then they get poor fairly soon, but if they are wise, interesting to be with and caring they continue to get wiser and more interesting and caring. So our society is growing all the wrong type of people. We need to find a way to increasse the number of rich people willing to fling money at me instead.

Of course … I still have a nagging feeling I am meant to learn a slightly different lesson from that experience.

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About James King

I coach organisations in how to better make use of the untapped talent they have in their people and to explore new ways of understanding and solving new and old problems
I live in Sydney with my wife and daughter and have no real hobbies beyond the usual boring ones of reading, writing and watching tv.